PR Campaign

Essay by rvr410College, UndergraduateB, March 2008

download word file, 7 pages 0.0

Washington Mutual is a publicly traded financial services company that conducts its business throughout the United States by way of four primary business lines: Retail Banking & Financial Services, Home Loans, Commercial Banking, and Card Services (Washington Mutual, 2008, ¶ 1). Washington Mutual's vision is "to be the nation's leading retailer of financial services for consumers and small businesses" (Washington Mutual, 2008, p. 1). Unfortunately, this vision is becoming tainted as pressure is mounting over recent allegations that the organization's home loan division pressured an appraisal unit of First American Corporation to over-inflate the property values of homes while also inflating prices in an effort to close more home loans (Turner, 2007, p. 1). When questioned regarding these alleged tactics, both Washington Mutual and First American Corporation stand by the integrity of their organization and deny any wrongdoing (Turner, 2007, p. 2). The results would suggest that many homeowners would have obtained artificially inflated mortgages and may have paid more for their home than it was worth.

Should these allegations prove to be true, Washington Mutual will face stiff penalties and have significantly damaged their reputation in the community.

Although the Seattle-based financial institution claims to maintain its innocence, in early 2008, Washington Mutual made the decision to contract with Team E to re-evaluate its current PR policies as well as strategize future PR Campaigns in hopes of turning around the public's perception of the organization and its practices. To begin this process, Team E will analyze the current public relation issues surrounding the organization, identify the target audience, discuss ethical implications, analyze how the PR Campaign will affect the marketing functions, and provide an overview of proactive and reactive PR. Finally, Washington Mutual will implement a marketing research plan and seek to align the marketing and PR...